ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

Kunsthalle Basel first opened its doors to the public in 1872, and has since established itself as a leading European venue for international contemporary art. In a city of museums, the Kunsthalle encompasses the art of today. Temporary exhibitions are the core of its programme, accompanied by film screenings, concerts, performances and gallery talks.

1839: Foundation and Context of Basler Kunstverein
The foundation of Basler Kunstverein in November 1839 occurred at a time when extensive efforts were being made to ensure that art was promoted nationwide. The objectives laid down in the Association’s first set of articles emphasised an ‘advancement of Swiss art through the organisation of art exhibitions and acquisition of art works’. Members of Basler Kunstverein were simultaneously shareholders: they became members by virtue of purchasing one share. Apart from conveying membership rights, their shares also entitled them to participate in an annual lottery for paintings of current exhibitions. Basler Kunstverein responded to the general call for the type of ‘national art’ aiming to express explicitly the shared identity of all the various regions of Switzerland by initiating the first Swiss Art Exhibition in 1840. This ‘Turnus-Ausstellung’ which was repeated every two years and also shown in other Swiss cities proved to be both an important social event and a great financial success. The second major undertaking of Basler Kunstverein in its early days was the organization of an exhibition dedicated to Basel artists: this historical overview of art produced in Basel in the course of the previous three centuries was entitled ‘Basel National Museum’ and opened in 1841. Both the exhibition and its accompanying brochure attest to the Association’s commitment to the art historiography of the city.

The New Building
Basler Kunstverein had made use of various buildings for its ‘Turnus-Ausstellung’, its ‘Basel National Museum’ and the irregularly organized ‘Permanente’ which provided local artists with an opportunity for the presentation and sale of their works for a period of several months at a time. Basel’s Stadtcasino, the ‘Rote Schulhaus’ located at Rittergasse as well as the ‘Allgemeine Lesergesellschaft’ had all offered their premises. The merger of Basler Kunstverein and ‘Kunstlergesellschaft’ in 1864 provided the financial basis for the plans and realisation of the Association’s own building: in order to generate funds for the construction of this building, the Association assumed management of two Rhine ferries which had been operated by the ‘Kunstlergesellschaft’. The new building which was located at Steinenberg and inaugurated in 1872 permitted the Kunstverein to present its own collection as well as temporary exhibitions to the public without any interruptions. Whereas the Association was managed on a voluntary basis until the turn of the century, a curator responsible for the exhibition programme was appointed for the first time in 1909. This appointment marked the beginning of an art institution in the modern and professional sense of the term.

Local and International Art Promotion
Apart from promoting local artists, highlights of the career of Wilhelm Barth who held the position of curator of the Kunstverein until 1934 notably included exhibitions of the French Impressionists. It was during his time that the solo exhibition dedicated to the works of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner took place. The expressive language of these works was to inspire a whole generation of Basel artists and eventually led to the foundation of the ‘Rot-Blau’ group. The presentation of the works of this German expressionist artist is just one example of how Kunsthalle Basel typically challenged the public to engage with the latest trends in the visual arts. Thus in 1922, a large solo exhibition of the works of Edvard Munch was held, followed by a retrospective view of the life and work of Van Gogh in 1927. The Association also provided such artists as Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Emil Nolde and Piet Mondrian with opportunities to exhibit their works in public at an early stage in their career; these exhibitions clearly left their marks on the works of individual local artists.

The spirit of innovation which characterized the post-war period increasingly demanded engagement with contemporary art. The Association responded to this situation in 1955 by appointing Arnold Rudlinger who had already realized well-received projects in his capacity as director of Kunsthalle Bern. As the new head of Kunsthalle Basel, Rudlinger organized Europe’s first exhibition of Abstract Expressionism in 1958 thereby paving the way for the purchases of expressionist works later made by collections all over Europe. Rudlinger’s programme was international in its orientation. His attempt to introduce the public of Basel to new artistic developments met with a mixed response: apart from many enthusiasts there were also those who objected to Rudlinger’s international focus because they envisaged a Kunsthalle focusing on local and Swiss artists rather than international ones.

Innovation and Continuity
Kunsthalle Basel has always been a centre for the development of contemporary art as well as professional mediation between artists and the public. The heterogeneity of art, the high density of art institutions, the increasingly international reception of artworks and the changed professional profile of curators have had profound implications for the exhibition industry, the role of sponsorship and, last but not least, the arguments advanced to legitimise the existence of the art museum. In the whirlpool of socio-political discussions, the curator Peter F. Althaus challenged the hierarchical structure of institutions towards the end of the 1960s. Instead of a ‘pure exhibition programme’ dictated by him alone he tried to realize a democratic concept at least intermittently. This concept was to culminate in his ‘Offenen Saal’ (open hall): the ceiling light hall was made available for a wide range of cultural activities thus raising the question of the social relevance of the fine arts in general and the function of an art museum and its need for subsidies in particular. This experiment ultimately proved unsuccessful. Thus the institution’s sustained influence was not so much due to its period of self-critical analysis but rather its long and unbroken succession of exhibitions presenting artistic creation and exploring the multifaceted spatial and visual dimensions.